Planting trees on Valentine's Day

 So...what's going on over there in the garden? During recess on Tuesday we had a group of students gather around to watch the planting of McKinley's orchard. 18 students were selected by a raffle to help plant the pear and apple trees that were donated to us by Colin, a Willamette MBA student and generous school garden supporter.

Students helped place the trees and fill in the holes. There was a lot of muddy shoveling! I don't think I heard a single person complain about getting dirty.A finished tree! Look at how straight it is! As an espalier tree, that's important because the branches will grow horizontally. There are 3-6 different varieties of pears and apples on each tree. That's a lot of fruity diversity!

 With all the trees planted we still had some grapes to go in. These garden assistants planted the first grapes under the arbor that runs along the windows outside rooms 5 and 6. The first graders are going to see first hand how well this part of the garden grows.


Thanks to everyone that came out to help, and Mrs. Morton that made sure everything ran smoothly.

Those of you that didn't get to plant today, don't worry!!
There is a lot more planting that needs to be done once it's not so muddy and it's a little warmer...like in a couple of weeks. Is that wishful thinking?

Come out and see how things are coming along in the McKinley school garden.